Chapter 187 - Reunited

While the two were having a heartwarming reunion, Cecil felt a weight on his back all of a sudden.

"Don't forget about me~"

"Gah?! Serilla!"

Cecil immediately exclaimed and he tried to flicker away. Normally it wouldn't work, but for some reason, this time he actually found himself staring at himself and the two girls?

"Huh?"

"Eh?"

"C-Cel?!"

The 3 were bewildered. There were actually 2 Cecils!

"Uhhh...okay, what?" Even Cecil himself was bewildered. He was obviously standing over here, but why, was there another him standing right in between the girls.

His answer was soon answered when the 'Cecil' standing in between the girls began to transform into wood and collapse.

"Waahh!"

"!"

While the two girls exclaimed, Cecil only raised an eyebrow in surprise. For some reason information began to flow into his mind.

"Nature's...Shift?"

The new information that suddenly popped into his head was a combat skill. By using nature as a medium, the user could teleport from place to place as long as what they were standing on was connected to the earth.

"Ahah, cool! When did I get this?"

Cecil tried to remember when he got this as a reward from the trials, but nothing came up. Then he remembered the mana that flowed into him when he first grabbed onto the two swords.

'Ah! It was probably then!'

He got one combat skill from one of the swords, so that means there was still another skill that he got!

While he was thinking, Lucia and Serilla flashed over to his side and the two began to ask just what the skill he used earlier to escape was.

Cecil only grinned in reply and didn't answer. It was his secret. He finally had a technique to escape from the clutches of these two ladies.

While he was smiling like an idiot, more people began to appear in the clearing.

"Hey, it's Cecil!" Fina cried.

"Brat! I knew you were still alive!"

"Cecil!"

"..."

"Hah! I knew it! There's no way leader would kick the bucket!" Velicia said and walked over to the 3.

The Little Kings were reunited with their party leader and the rest of the people who had arrived at the clearing couldn't help but turn an eye towards the boy.

Cleo was astonished when she saw him.

"Th-those markings!"

She quickly made her way over and finally noticed the two swords in his hands.

"The World Tree's Thorns!"

"Hm?"

Cecil turned towards the girl and found a familiar face.

"Ah, it's you! That elf girl...what was it again...ummm... Cl...Cl...Chloe?"

"It's Cleo!"

"Yeah, yeah! Cleo! What's up?"

The girl hastily corrected him, but then she turned her attention back towards the two wooden swords in his hands.

"Th-those...are they...the World Tree's Thorns?"

"Oh these? I dunno, but I did get a notification from the administrator saying that these two are called Corruption and Perseverance. They're pretty neat!"

"C-corruption? Perseverance?"

"Mhm~"

"The First and Third Thorns...how did you get them?!" Cleo said while pointing at Cecil.

"They were rewards for the trial I went through."

"...a separate trial?" After hearing his words, Cleo began to mumble to herself. Then she couldn't help but notice the golden markings on Cecil's body.

"!"

She rushed forward and began touching them.

"UWAH!!"

"Urrugdrasil's markings! Ah, you actually got them as well! The markings of 1st and 3rd Thorns..."

Cecil felt ticklish and he wanted to teleport away, but then Lucia and Serilla pulled him back away from Cleo.

"Hmph!"

"Sorry, but we can't allow you to do that~"

Cleo was a little surprised, but then she remembered her unsightly conduct.

"Oh? Ah! S-sorry! I didn't think someone other than an elf could get the World Tree's Markings! I was a little overwhelmed! Please forgive my rudeness!"

With her apologizing, the elves that had made it to the clearing finally noticed Cecil's peculiarity. The Markings of the World Tree was essentially the Blessing of the World Tree.

They then noticed the two wooden swords in Cecil's hands. Many of them displayed looks of shock and disbelief, some of the elves couldn't even conceal the greed and envy that flashed in their eyes.

Cecil frowned when he noticed other people coming into the clearing. He quickly fixed his clothing and stored the two wooden swords into his ring.

"Ah!"

"H-how disrespectful!"

The elves began to cause a ruckus after Cecil brazenly stored the two swords into his ring. He frowned once more and glared at the elves.

Cleo waved her hands and immediately silenced the elves behind her.

"P-please don't take offense, Cecil! Normally the owners of the Thorns would keep the Swords by their sides and not store them away!"

"Hm?"

"Uhm...I'm pretty sure you feel it as well, right? The compatibility and familiarity of the swords when they're in your hands," Cleo explained.

"Oh! Hmm, you sound like you've held one before."

"N-no...only a replica," she then shifted her body and Cecil finally noticed the wooden sword on her hip.

"...Perseverance?"

"Yeah, it's only a replica though."

Cecil widened his eyes when he saw the familiar red sword. The only difference was that the golden engravings were a black color instead and the presence it gave off was much different than the one he owned.

Cecil nodded. Then he turned to look at the other students who had arrived at the clearing.

"How come there's so little of you left?"

"..."

His question caused many of the leaders to quiet down. The Beastman Academy's President, scoffed.

"Heh, unlike you, we had to actually go through hell to reach here!"

Yes, compared to Cecil and the people who had arrived. Cecil looked like he had it real easy. He was clean and looked completely pristine. While the students who had arrived looked like they had just crossed through a field of blades and hellfire.

They were dirty, injured and many of the students' clothes were no longer intact. The same went for Cecil's party members. He finally noticed that they're clothes and appearance were a little worse for wear.

"Oh...I see," Cecil nodded with a thoughtful expression.

"Hmph!"

Many of the people who had just arrived heard Cecil's offhanded remark and they grew dissatisfied with the boy.

But they didn't know about the hell that he went through and Cecil didn't bother explaining. It was too tiresome.

The Arks Academy students, or at least what was left of them, were relieved to see him still alive and kicking.

"Well, if the next trial is another battle then let me take over for a bit. You guys look like you've been through hell!" Cecil chuckled.

"Haha, and you haven't?" The Fighter Faction's Leader, Gus August, chuckled and retorted meaningfully.

"Hmm~ well, at least what I went through didn't put me into a sorry state! I mean look at you guys! Just what the hell happened?"

Zephyr came forward and explained the situation and events that had unfolded while Cecil was separated from them.

"Oh...that means...many died?"

"Yeah...unfortunately," Zephyr tiredly sighed.

"By the way, the last wave was the Dark Wood Elves?"

"Yeah, do you know about them?"

"Hmmm... I can see why so little of you actually made it...if you don't destroy the cores they just won't die," His offhanded remark caused everyone around him to widen their eyes.

Cecil was still looking at the rest of the people who were left. There were only 70 people left. 13 from Arks, 14 now with Cecil added. There were 10 Gigantes, 18 Beastmen, 13 Elves and 16 from the Neftersea Academy.

With Cecil now added into the mix, it was a total of 71 people who had made it all the way to the 4th trial. Compared to the initial 500 that had first arrived, not even a fifth of the students were able to pass through the 3rd trial. Some had failed during the 1st and 2nd while others had even perished during the 3rd.

"You sound like you actually had to face these monsters?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, it was during my second trial. I had to face 8 of them alone inside a pitch black environment. Took a while until I noticed that they had cores, and then there was the King...I had to actually use Over Flash just to beat that thing...it was a creepy monster too."

His confirmation immediately silenced the people around him. Compared to what Cecil went through, it seems they were the ones that had it easy. Fighting those tentacle monsters with very limited vision? It wasn't only dangerous and disgusting; it was practically a nightmare-inducing situation!

"As we thought, you were indeed the one responsible for creating that large hole," Aurellia said with a stiff expression.

"Hm~ the situation called for it...and I had no other choice...by the way...Friedrich?"

"Ah...he...failed during the 3rd trial..." Aurellia replied a little in dejection.

"I see...well, at least he's not dead, better to fail than to perish like the other unfortunate people..."

"Yeah..."

It wasn't until an hour later that the administrator's voice echoed in their heads again.

[Congratulations for perfectly clearing the 3rd Trial, challengers! You have been granted the opportunity to enter the 5th Extra Trial! This will substitute as the 4th and 5th Trials!]

That was the notification that rang in the other students' minds. Cecil's notification was slightly different however.

[Final Trial, The World Tree's Vision. Experience the future that the World Tree, Urrugdrasil, has predicted.]

"?"

Cecil was bewildered. The last trial...seemed like a trial, but it wasn't actually a trial. All he had to do was 'experience' the World Tree's future. This means that there won't be any battles and he would most likely be induced into experiencing an Illusion.

So what was the point in this last trial? It seemed a little too easy. It seemed like there was more to the Urrugdrasil Trials than what everyone thought it'd be.

It wasn't just about hacking and slashing down monsters and getting abundant rewards...for Cecil it seemed like the Tree was trying to tell him something.

Corruption...Perseverance...and then some kind of vision... what did the World Tree want to relay to the challengers?

Cecil was about to voice his thoughts to his friends, but then he suddenly felt his consciousness fading.